Birchbox March 2014

Ok so I know I said I wasn't going to get Birchbox this month because I wanted to try out Ipsy, but I found a promo code for 100 bonus points with a new subscription so I had to sign up for another month! 100 points is $10 to spend in their online shop and since the box for the month only costs $10 I felt like I was getting a free box. I think the code is still valid so if you want to try Birchbox use code BB100 and I would really appreciate if you could use my referral link since I gave you the code: https://www.birchbox.com/invite/hb61l Thanks!

Anyways...On to this month's goodies! This month I got four samples plus a bonus Birchbox finds item (which is "always in addition to your usual samples, not in place of them").

Jergens BB Body Cream: I also got this in my Target Beauty Box, but I'm ok with that because I like it so far. It says its a perfecting skin cream- honestly I haven't been using it regularly enough to see the perfecting results, but it is super hydrating which I love. Plus they sent a coupon with it and I am definitely more inclined to repurchase with a coupon.

Havvn Night Cream: This is an overnight face cream. I am always happy to get new lotions and creams, but I hated the scent of this, so its going in my Edivv shop.

Agave Healing Oil Treatment: this product says its good for frizzy hair, which I usually have but I got a hair oil sample last month that I'm still working on so this will have to wait. But I do love products that fight frizz.

theBalm How 'Bout Them Apples Cheek and Lip Cream: I haven't decided yet whether or not I'm happy about this one. I have never tried this brand (heard great things about it) so I am interested, but the idea of a cream blush scares me haha.

Keims Peppermint and Macadamia Shampoo: Again hair products are something I don't mind getting in my box and I'm especially happy about the size of this sample (almost 2oz). I haven't tried it out yet, but it smells fantastic.

Overall I am very satisfied with my box; I liked 3 out of the 5 items and I got the 100 bonus points so even if I decide not to try theBalm sample I think I got my money's worth.

Like I said try the BB100 code if you're interested in getting a Birchbox (I'm not guaranteeing it is still valid). It is really easy to cancel if you're not happy. You can sign up here: https://www.birchbox.com/invite/hb61l.

And if you're interested in the Havvn night cream send me a trade request in my Edivv shop HERE.

If you subscribe already let me know what you thought of this month's box!

Update on Target Beauty Box

Remember the Target Beauty box I told you about last Thursday? (if you missed that post you can read it HERE). Well one of the items I got in it was a dud...

I went to try the Herbal Essences Naked Dry Shampoo and the darn thing wouldn't spray at all. I emailed Target and Herbal Essences and guess what happened?!

Target didn't have any replacements to send out, so they refunded me for the whole box! Plus Herbal Essences is sending me a coupon for a free one so that I get to try it! I am so overjoyed! I thought it was incredible customer service and it makes me want to continue to interact with both companies.

Montagne Juenesse Review

If you’re a regular reader then you know I love getting to try new products for free. Honestly I don’t know any girl who would want to turn down free beauty supplies. If you’re interested in getting to try out some free stuff you should check out PINCHme It’s a website that gives out free products in return for honest reviews. And it’s where I got my latest product to try out.

That product was Montagne Juenesse’s Green Tea Peel Off Masque. This might be one of the best products I’ve ever gotten to sample; I absolutely love face masks! And the best part is this was a full sized item.

The instructions were very simple for this product. There was even pictures to help you out. First, I cleansed with my Epice sample I told you about earlier this week.







Then I opened the package to be greeted with a lovely smell. The scent of this face mask was light and refreshing (like green tea, funny huh?). It went on smoothly, but I felt like there was a little too much in the package. I had some leftover even after applying a thick layer.

Then I had to wait 20 minutes for it to dry. The sample came with a brochure about the company so I wasn’t too bored. I got to learn about how the company is cruelty free and vegetarian society approved. Although I don’t know what the vegetarian society is… The brochure told about the company’s eco-friendly practices. It was nice to have something to read while I was waiting for the mask to dry and when a product is eco-friendly and cruelty free I’m always more likely to buy it in the future.

After it had dried I peeled the mask off, which wasn’t the most enjoyable thing. It hurt a little, but too bad. It was like taking off a band aid. It won’t deter me from buying it.

My face felt pretty great after taking the mask off. I felt like it got a lot of dirt and grime out of my skin and helped get rid of dead skin. I do have to say my face felt kind of dry though. Again, it wasn’t the end of the world for me. I just used the Epice moisturizer I told you about earlier this week and then all was well.

I did a little investigation to find out how much these masks cost and was happy to see that on this website (from pinchme) they are only $2. Although I’m not sure how much shipping would be. They are also available at Walmart and Walgreens. But I thought it was cool that the website had sets that you could buy. I am definitely ok with this price. The mask did a wonderful job and I will most likely buy these in the future. They have lots of other varieties that I would love to try.

The Montagne Juenesse Green Tea Peel Off Masque gets an A from me. They quality and cost combined make this product a great deal. It is something that I can afford while I’m in college to pamper myself.

Bath and Body Works Freebies

Some things I really love about Bath and Body Works (BBW) is that they have good sales quite often, they give out coupons every time you shop, and they send great email coupons. One thing I learned recently is that the more times you give them your email, the better coupons you get; so be sure to tell them at the checkout-don't brush it off when they ask!

Yesterday was National Fragrance Day so BBW had a Facebook deal to get a free fragrance with any purchase (minimum) and I also got a coupon in my email for any free product (up to $12.50, no purchase necessary).

Here's what I got!

This is $28.25 worth of products that I got for $1.75! I only had to buy the hand sanitizer!

I've never tried any of these scents before; I'm so excited to try them!

Target Beauty Box

A few weeks ago I learned something new about Target. They do beauty boxes! The bummer is they don't do them monthly and you never know when they're coming. I was lucky to get one and I'm so glad I did! It was only $5 and had free shipping!

I opened it up and got a huge smile on my face; no other beauty box has greeted me like that! Inside the card was a $3 off a $15 beauty purchase at Target. I think I could get a great beauty deal if I round up my coupons and head to Target! (psst the coupon doesn't exclude clearance.)

Sorry for the bad picture, I was just so excited to play with my new stuff! The box had Herbal Essences Naked Dry Shampoo travel size, Jergens BB body Cream, Covergirl Smoochies lip gloss, L'Oreal Voluminous Butterfly Mascara, and Toni & Guy Sea Salt Texturising Spray.

Look at everything I got for $5! I am so so happy with the box, although the gloss will go up in my shop on edivv.com I still think $5 was worth the 4 items I'm keeping. (The sizes are better than what I got in Birchbox in February.) I don't know what the total value of the box is (I could probably figure it out), but the mascara alone is $7 so I don't even care the value of everything else. I think I got more than my money's worth. 

The next time one of these boxes is out I'll let you guys know sooner so you can get one yourself (they're usually a one day thing because they sell out so quickly). But if you're interested in the gloss check out my shop on edivv.com so we can trade!

Epice Review

I want to tell you guys about my first experience with the brand Epice. (Sorry I don’t know how to do the things over the e’s.) A few weeks ago they had a promotion on their website offering free samples and the makeup lover/ bargain hunter in me didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to test this brand.

As you can in the photo see Epice sent me samples of their purifying exfoliant and therapeutic moisturizer. The top photo on the left is of the exfoliant and the bottom picture is the moisturizer.

The first thing I do when I try out new skin care is to smell it. Surprisingly neither of these has a scent at all. I actually really love that! My skin is fairly sensitive and some fragranced products irritate my skin. Also if it had a scent that I didn't like I would be less likely to use it.  

I tried out the exfoliant first. If you look back to the photo I used about twice the amount on my fingers, which may have been a bit too much. The instructions say to moisten your face with lukewarm water first and then apply with your fingertips in a small circular motion. Right away I noticed the gritty texture of the exfoliant. Honestly I wasn't expecting that texture. Other exfoliating face washes I’ve used have those little beads to help clean you face, but as you can see in the picture this doesn’t. I actually liked the gritty feel a lot better than products with the little beads. I felt like it was cleaning better. I don’t know if that’s true, but that’s what it felt like. The instructions also said to leave it on for a few minutes before rinsing. After I rinsed it off I felt pretty satisfied. I felt like it got all my makeup off and some dead skin too.

One thing I should mention about the exfoliant is that it’s not an everyday face wash. The package says to use it once or twice weekly. I feel like that is a good recommendation. It was a very deep cleaning product which I loved, but I think everyday use might irritate the skin. I only say that because it helped remove some dry dead skin from my face and I think if you used it every day there wouldn't be enough dead skin to take off.

On to the moisturizer. The package says that the moisturizer contains “aloe, shea butter, and cocoa butter to heal and rebuild your dry, sensitive skin.” I was pretty excited to try this out because this winter has been rough on my skin. My face has been very dry and sometimes even flaky (I know, ew.).

If you look back at the photo, the amount on my fingers was enough moisturizer for my whole face. After applying I was a little disappointed. It felt kind of greasy on my skin. I've never used shea butter products before, so I thought that might be the reason for the greasy feeling (?). After a few minutes the initial greasy feeling went away, so I felt a lot better about the product.

By the way I did this all before bed. And when I woke up the next morning my skin felt really hydrated. I didn't see any of those gross flaky patches I was telling you about. With the other moisturizer I had been using I applied it after the shower and in the morning when I woke up. I didn't feel the need to apply any more Epice moisturizer when I woke up. That was really great to me because it’s obviously doing its job and it will last me longer.

As with any other sample I've received I did some investigation to find out how much this product costs. You know I want to make the most of my budget while in college. So I found out on the Epice website that the full size of these products are kinda pricey. The exfoliant is $32 and the moisturizer is $15. I'm having a rough time deciding if I would repurchase. Normally I wouldn't spend that kind of money on a face wash and moisturizer, but I absolutely love these items! It is the best moisturizer I have ever used and the exfoliant is so wonderful! Maybe I'll buy them, maybe not; I guess I'll wait and see how I feel when the samples are gone.

Overall I give this product an A+. Like I said they are some of the best products I have used.

If you want to check out their website here is the link: http://www.epiceinternational.com/. If you click on the skin care bar at the top it looks like they still are offering free samples, I suggest you try them!

Ruby Wing Color Changing Nail Polish Review

I recently won a contest through Birchbox and one of the products I received was Ruby Wing Color Changing Nail Polish in Ride 'Em Cowboy. If you want to know more about Birchbox HERE is a review of a monthly box I received from them and how to sign up.

I thought this nail polish was too great not to share! I only had to apply two coats to get full coverage and the polish changed to bright red in the sunlight. Also after 4 days there was no chipping! I feel like it would have lasted longer without chipping, but by then I was ready to change my nails.

If you click HERE Birchbox offers alot more color choices. This is something I will probably get when I have enough Birchbox points.

Ipsy March 2014

Last month I tried out Birchbox for the first time and told you guys that this month I would be trying out a different service to compare the two and decide which I like better. You can see my Birchbox post HERE. 

This month I tried out Ipsy. Ipsy costs $10 per month, just like Birchbox, which was why I decided to compare them. Before I tell you which one I decided to stay with I think I should show you what was in my Ipsy bag this month!

Something a little bit different about Ipsy is that they send you all of your items in a makeup bag. So in addition to all the goodies you're getting a bag every single month. I love this! Honestly I already have a ton of makeup bags, but they are so useful that I don't mind getting more. 

This months bag was designed by Klari Reis, an artist from San Francisco, CA. You can find more of her art work on her website www.klariart.com. Personally I didn't like the design of the bag very much, but I can save it for a gift. 

Every month Ipsy sends you 4-5 items, some samples and some full sized products. I received 4 items and 2 of them were full sized! 

(from the left of the photo)

Be a Bombshell eye shadow palette in Bora Bora. This is one of the full sized items, which retails for $16. Swatches to the right. This came with a 40% off coupon code for their website.

Nicole by OPI Roughles nail polish in On What Grounds? This was the second full sized item, which sells for $8.

Pixi Flawless Beauty Primer sample. This came with a 25% off coupon code for their website. 

BareMinerals Moxie Lipstick sample in Get Ready. This sample came with a coupon code for free shipping and a free sample on their website. I thought it was a decent offer to check out since I've never tried any of their products. Right now they are also giving away a different sample with every order and because it was my first purchase with them I got a free eyeshadow! I got 2 products and 2 deluxe sized samples for only $6.50!

I am so so happy with everything I received! I will definitely use all of these products. I don't know the value of the sample sized items, but the two full size products are worth $24, so I got a great deal for only $10!

If you think this is a service you would like to subscribe to click HERE. That is my referral link which I think gets us both bonus points.

So if I had to choose between Ipsy and Birchbox based on the one month I received of each, I would pick Ipsy. I chose Ipsy because it seems to be more makeup based (Birchbox has a wider variety of things) and personally I am more interested in a makeup subscription. But if you want to check out  Birchbox click HERE. That is another referral link which I think gets us both some points.

If you're an Ipsy subscriber let me know what you thought of this month!

Sorry for my Absence

Last week was my spring break which was why I totally neglected posting. Sorry about that, but it wasn't complete neglect. I spent part of this week testing out items to review for you guys. I also have been brainstorming like crazy, so there is lots of good stuff to come this week!

Coglate Optic White Review

As promised today I'm going to tell you about my experience with the Colgate Optic White Toothbrush/ Whitening Pen that I received from Influenster to test.       **So just as a reminder the claim I put to the test was "whiter teeth in two days."*

If you didn't read my unboxing post you can read it HERE. But the photo on the right shows everything I got. There is a travel sized toothpaste, a toothbrush/whitening pen, and some coupons. I got these free to test out but I was pretty curious how expensive this would be to buy and how it compared to other whitening systems.







I went to the CVS website to look at prices. Boy, was I shocked. This toothbrush is $18. That seemed absolutely crazy to me for a toothbrush until I remembered that there was a whitening pen built in. I've never bought any whitening systems before so I looked at prices for those to see how they compared to the toothbrush combo I  got. Most of them seemed to be $30 or more. So if you're looking for a whitening system this is definitely one of the cheapest.









I feel like I'm boring you with background stuff; let's get on to how I think it worked.
The toothbrush is really nice quality. I really felt like it was getting my teeth clean, and it even has a tongue scrubber on the back. The only thing that I didn't like about the toothbrush was how big the head was. I have a small mouth and usually buy smaller toothbrushes, so it was kind of annoying to use such a large toothbrush. Although it didn't bother me enough to want to stop using it.

I love the toothpaste! It is super minty and has a slight burn like mouthwash. I know some people don't like the mouthwash burn, but I do because it feels like my mouth is getting extra clean. The toothpaste also suds up really well so I don't have to use very much to get my teeth clean.

Now the whitening pen was a weird experience. I've used toothbrushes and toothpaste in the past, so I knew what to expect with those. I honestly had no idea what to expect with the whitening pen. The first thought I had was that I love how the pen fits into the toothbrush handle. It's a very convenient place to keep it and I never forget about it there. The whitening paste comes out of the pen by twisting up the bottom, which I like so that I don't accidentally squeeze too much out. It has a gluey texture which is kind of weird and a little difficult to spread the first time, but I think that was because I wasn't used to it yet. Once it's spread and you close your mouth the gluey texture goes away because of your saliva. Not to say that it immediately comes off when you close your mouth- it just feels nicer, if that makes any sense at all. I really like that I didn't have to wait a specific amount of time and rinse- you don't have to rinse it off at all. I didn't have anything to eat or drink for an hour after I applied the paste. It doesn't say anything about that in the directions, I just used my best judgement. I could feel the paste for about a half an hour before I'm assuming my saliva washed it away. And after that I just thought it was best to wait a little longer before eating because I wanted to get the best results possible.


Here's the before and after pictures:

Overall I'm mildly happy. I think that my teeth are beginning to get a bit whiter, but there isn't a huge difference. I think that by the end of the week my teeth will probably be where I thought they would be today. I don't know why I expected a huge change after two days, it's kind of my own fault that I thought my teeth would be whiter. I think that the process does work well enough to have the claim, but don't expect super drastic results after two days. I have a feeling that after a week you will have the results you want. And there is definitely enough whitening paste to last a week (or even more).

My grade for this would be a A- , mostly because the toothbrush head is too large for my mouth. I do think it is the most affordable option for whitening and it has been working for me. If I were to buy a whitening system I would probably get this one because it would be the best for my college budget. (Especially since they sent me coupons!)